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PREVIEW: 3030 Deathwar Redux

3030 Deathwar Redux is a 2D open-world space adventure, though there are elements of many other genres within the game. Most of the time you spend the game flying your ship from place to place completing tasks, and when you’re doing so, the game plays like the old-school game; “Asteroids” or other spaceship shooters. The rest of the time, your character is either on space stations picking up new jobs, trading, and talking to people OR at derelicts salvaging materials and other items. There is a variety of things to do within the game, and there is SOME element of choice making as well. The game may remind some people of “Space Pirates and Zombies”, though I feel like this title offers a very unique experience on its own.

Developer: Bird in Sky

Publisher: Crunchy Leaf Games

Genre: Open World 2D Space Adventure

Release date: 28 Apr, 2016 (Early Access), Full Release – TBA

Type: Single-player

Art-style is subjective, and at first I didn’t really enjoy the pixel design of the game (and usually I do). After playing the game for awhile, the style of the game really grew on me. The graphics of the game are really well done. The style is unique, and it gives the game a lot of charm. There’s an abundance of characters and races, each with their own unique and interesting design. Most of the space-stations and derelicts you enter look kinda the same internally (with the exception of small details), though the exterior appearance of these places are really different and neat. Of course, this game’s motif is space, so there is a ton of space themed objects, designs and graphics, though the game puts them together quite nicely. While traveling in space, there’s usually a lot happening on screen. There’s cargo ships, police and other vessels just roaming around (which you can interact with). When you’re not around a station however, just traveling to another place, there isn’t a whole lot happening aside from you passing by planets, asteroids, and derelicts IF you see them. The game is not too demanding, it should run fine on a low – mid-tier graphics card and CPU.

The sound assets are just fine. All the gun sounds, ambient space sounds, and general space themed noises are great and fit right in with theme of the game. The main reason this game ranks so well in it’s sound category is because of the amazing soundtrack/background music that plays throughout the game. There are quite a bit of beautiful vocal tracks within the game as well as some instrumentals. The only complaint I’d have about this is that; tracks don’t loop or switch to another track after finishing. Though this is a minor personal gripe as you’re usually not in space long enough for the track to finish (though sometimes you are). This also might annoy or bother some players because they might deem it as “repetitive” sounds. All in all, the soundtrack is amazing and I really hope they release an OST.

The mechanics are really well-done. There’s so much to do in the game, though that being said, it is possible that the game might feel repetitive after “grinding” out side-jobs for cash. The good news is that there’s a lot of different things you can do for cash. Some of these things depend on the kind of ship you own, and what kind of upgrades you have, but these things are not that difficult to obtain. The most basic thing you can do is dock at various space-stations and use the job console to find jobs; these kind of jobs include taxi services, package deliveries, trash clean-up, photo-taking, towing services and a few more that you can unlock through playing the game. Some of these jobs have time limits, and having a faster ship may be helpful. Some of these jobs also require you to have a certain amount of cabins or cargo space on your ship.

There are also bounties you can take from the job console which help you hunt down space pirates for more cash, as well as loot their ships. Completing/not completing these jobs can impact your reputation which can have effects on various things or conversations. You can also find space pirates in each space system without having to take a “mission” for it. Sometimes civilians on space stations will also have jobs for you when you talk to them. You can also harvest asteroid fields for minerals and ore which you can sell at trade consoles. Trade consoles are also at space stations. Each station sells and buys goods at different prices, so trading is another way cash can be made.

Another way to make cash within the game is to become a pirate yourself. You can ram into cargo ships, destroy civilian ships and work at pirate outposts. Though usually this gets you in trouble with the law, as well as places a bounty on your head. There may be other ways to make cash later on in the game. There are also a few random events that happen every now and then that may grant the player rewards.

The flying and combat in the game is simple. You use the arrow keys to move around and hit the space and enter keys to fire off your weapons. The movement style is sort of like those other float-y movement space-shooters. You can buy different weapons and missiles to fit to your ship, as well as other ship upgrades. Not all ships can be fitted with the same equipment, so knowing which ships are good for battle and which are good for other missions is important. Although this might not affect everyone; the controls of the game take a while to get used to as they don’t feel right or comfortable when first played (for both flying in space and walking around).

Final Personal Remarks:

The first time I played the game I wasn’t too keen on the graphic style, like I said earlier, it really grew on me. There are some aspects of the game I don’t partake in (such as derelicts) because I still haven’t completely gotten used to the design. That being said, I still think the game looks great. The story seems really interesting, and it looks like you unlock and discover new things as you go through it. The game’s tone is a little humorous and actually does have neat references. The dialogue in the game is great, and is actually worth reading in my opinion. The devs spent a lot of time with the dialogue, as there’s so much of it from almost every NPC you meet. The game has a real charm and I really enjoy games like this where you have to try and make money somehow, but also gives you so many ways to do so. The music is lovely and I wish there was an OST or something somewhere. The game is currently in early access but has lots to offer. Even though more and more features are being added to the game, I believe it’s already really good as it is.